slow dance
by illrain666
Summary: kitty wishes john would be more romantic.


(Then the Muse kicked me in the head and said, "Let there be happiness and fluff."

So there was happiness and fluff.

Then I flipped her off by putting in a little angst anyway. Stupid Muse.)

SLOW DANCE

Kitty Pryde sighed and looked enviously at the huge bouquet of yellow roses that Rogue was proudly showing off to everyone in the rec room. That sigh was, of course, noticed by her boyfriend, John Allerdyce. He was sitting right beside her on the couch so he couldn't help but notice it. Plus, she very obviously meant for him to notice the sigh. In fact, she was now looking at him rather reproachfully.

"What?" he said, dropping the Hellboy comic he had been reading. He had a feeling that he was about to have a very uncomfortable conversation with his girlfriend.

"Why don't you ever do things like that?" she asked him.

He decided to play it dumb. Hopefully, that would discourage her from pursuing this. "Things like what?" he wondered.

"Romantic things," she said. "Like roses and chocolates." There was a squeal of delight and they both turned to see Rogue holding up a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. She put a gloved hand over Bobby's mouth then gave him a kiss. Kitty sighed again. "And maybe possibly jewelry," she added in a wistful voice.

He shrugged. "It's their anniversary or something, so the Iceman got her presents. We, on the other hand, have only been going out for two weeks."

"So? There shouldn't be an official occasion to justify romantic gestures." She was pouting now.

John gave her a wary look. "You're not one of those girls who celebrate every little milestone of a relationship, are you?"

She shook her head. "No. Of course not. But it's just that we've been a couple for two weeks, and all we've done together is make out. Why don't we go see a movie or something? Have dinner? A real date?"

He was silent for a long time, then he sighed. "Fine. I'll think of something for us to do together that would be romantic." He placed a sarcastic emphasis on the last word.

She finally sensed that she had pissed him off somehow. There were still a lot of things that she had to learn about John Allerdyce, but among the very first facts that she had found out after she became involved with him was that when he was quiet, that was when he was _really_ angry. "We don't really have to do anything, if you don't want to," she told him. "I'm just being silly. Forget it."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I gotta go, okay? Still got detention with Mister Summers. I'll see you later." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then he left. He made his way to Mister Summers' classroom where his teacher was at his desk grading papers.

"You're late." The man's expression was unreadable.

"Sorry," he mumbled then took a seat without another word.

Mister Summers stared at him. At least John thought he was staring. He couldn't really be sure where the guy was looking at because of his dark glasses. "I was going to tell you to sit quietly for two hours just to see you froth at the mouth over it, but it looks like you actually wouldn't mind not talking right now," Mister Summers said dryly. "So let the punishment fit the crime. Talk to me. What's on your mind, John?" He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Nothing, sir."

"You sure about that? You've got the distracted air of a guy who _has_ something on his mind. Or _someone_."

"I'm completely thoughtless, sir."

"How's Kitty?" Mister Summers suddenly asked.

"She's fine," he answered.

"I heard you guys are going out. That's good. Nice girl you've got there. Treat her right." And with those words, the older man went back to grading papers.

"See that's the thing!" John burst out. Mister Summers set the papers aside. "I can't treat her right! At least not the way she wants to be treated! I can't do any of that stuff like buy her flowers and crap like that! She wants romance and I am not a romantic kind of guy! Do you see me as a romantic kind of guy?"

"Well –"

"Hell, no! I'm not a romantic kind of guy!" he continued. "Romance is for suckers, and wimps. Fuck romance! I'm not going to behave like an ass just because of some girl!" He took a deep breath after his little tirade. He then stared at the floor and looked embarrassed as he admitted the rest of the reason for his behavior. "And, uhm - I actually can't afford to take her out on a real date right now. My folks haven't sent me my allowance yet." He didn't mention that the allowance was already two months late in coming. He wanted to think that maybe they kept forgetting to send the money, or that they didn't have the money, or that money had been outlawed back home, any reason other than the possibility that maybe they weren't sending him money simply because they didn't want to.

"When Jean, Miss Grey, and I were students here," Mister Summers said softly, "there was this guy, Warren Worthington, who was also a student here at the same time. He was this millionaire's son and he liked her. Every day, there would be roses at her locker. He would take her out to dinner at the fanciest restaurants and they'd go driving in his expensive Italian sports car during weekends. As you may guess, I absolutely hated his guts, because I liked her, too."

"So how'd you end up getting the girl?" John asked, curious in spite of himself.

Mister Summers smiled. "Simplicity at its finest. I wrote her a poem."

"A poem?" John sounded appalled at the idea. "Are you suggesting that I write Kitty a poem?"

"No. No, I'm not. I'm suggesting that you do things your way. You don't need flowers or any of that stuff to create a romantic moment. I wrote the poem for an English class homework, and I made it about Jean. When the teacher asked us to read our poems out loud to the class the next day, well, it was my public declaration of love." Mister Summers smiled fondly at the memory.

"No offense, sir," John shuddered, "but I would rather stick a pen in my eye than do something that sappy."

His teacher frowned.

"Not that I don't admire the extremely romantic spirit of your grand gesture," he added.

"Well," Mister Summers shrugged. "I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised. You kids these days have no appreciation for romance. Okay. Male bonding time is over. Stay in your seat and be quiet for the next two hours."

John _was_ quiet for the next two hours. He was too busy thinking of ways that he could give Kitty the romance she wanted, and without having to spend a single cent.

Kitty, for her part, didn't see John again for the rest of the day. She looked for him at dinner but there was no sign of him at the dining hall. She even checked the room he shared with Bobby but it was empty. She was very worried by the time she finally went to bed at around eleven.

She stayed awake in the darkness, listening to her roommate Jubilee's soft breathing. She wondered what had happened to him. Maybe all her talk of romance had freaked him out completely and he had run off to join the circus or something. She should have known better than to say such things to him in the first place. John wasn't the sort of guy who was into the hearts and flowers kind of relationship. He was more of the direct action approach person. He liked her, he kissed her, and that was it. They were a couple. Except that she couldn't really be blamed for being a girl occasionally, and for craving a little fluff in her life.

"Kitty! Psst!"

She heard something hissing. She sat up in bed, her ears straining to catch the sound again.

"Kitty! Wake up!" There was a brief flare of fire outside her window and she knew who it was. She got out of bed, opened the window and looked down at John Allerdyce.

"John! Are you okay? What are you doing?" She could barely keep from shouting. She was so relieved to see him.

"Come down here!" he told her. "Hurry!"

She was confused. "What? Why?"

"Just come down!"

"Okay! Wait!" She put on a jacket over her pajamas and wore slippers then she simply phased through the building and through the air till she was down on the ground. He took her hand as soon as she became solid again. "Come on." He led her quickly to the garden. They entered the little labyrinth crafted from shrubbery and navigated their way to its very center where a statue of some kind of nymph or goddess had been erected.

"What are we doing here?" she wondered.

"You wanted romance, well, you're gonna get romance," he said. "Take off your jacket and slippers." To her utter consternation, she saw him take off _his_ jacket and shoes.

"John, romance isn't sex!" she squeaked in a panicky voice.

"What?" He rolled his eyes at her frightened expression. "You have a filthy mind, Pryde. I didn't bring you here to have sex. Now just take off the jacket and slippers. Trust me."

"What would taking them off have to do with romance?" she asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," was his only reply.

She took off her jacket and slippers. Now she stood barefoot and shivering before him. He smirked at her. "Nice pajamas," he commented.

"Oh, shut up." Her glare made her look a lot like the picture of Buttercup from the Powerpuff Girls that was printed on her pajamas. "This better be good."

"God, I hope so," he said under his breath. "Come here." She came closer to him and he took out his lighter. She watched curiously as he flicked it on then took the flame in his palm. It stayed there for a moment then it divided into dozens of tiny flames and his power sent them hovering and swirling through the air like fireflies. Soon the entire place sparkled with their glow.

Kitty smiled in delight. "Wow. I didn't know you could do that." A little flame danced near her. She held out a hand towards it.

"Careful," John cautioned.

"You won't let it hurt me," she said confidently. She touched it then and it was hot, but it didn't burn her. "Okay." She grinned at him. "So far, so good."

He smiled at her. Slowly, he took her hands in his own. "You can step on my feet," he instructed. She did as he said and he enfolded her completely in his arms. Then he began to move, swaying gently.

_How soft a whisper can get_

_When you're walking through a crowded space_

_I hear every word being said_

_And I remember that every day_

_I get a little bit closer to you_

_How long an hour can take_

_When you're staring into open space_

_When I feel I'm slipping further away_

_I remember that every day_

_I get a little bit closer to you_

_These are the days that I won't get back_

_I won't hear you cry or hear you laugh_

_And when it's quiet and I don't hear a thing_

_Well I can always hear you breathe_

_You know there's nowhere else I've wanted to be_

_Than be there when you needed me_

_I'm sorry too_

_But don't give up on me_

_And just remember that when you were asleep_

_I got a little bit closer to you_

John was singing. _To her_. His voice was low and a bit rough, but she thought that she had never heard anything more lovely. Kitty smiled and embraced him more tightly than ever. When the song was over, she grabbed his head and kissed him with more feeling than she had ever done before.

"Thank you," she whispered against his mouth when they finally had to pull apart to take in much-needed air. "Thank you. That was the sweetest thing ever that anyone has ever given me."

He nodded. "I'm sorry it's not roses, or jewelry," he said. "It's just that –" he took a deep breath then continued, "I'm – well, more or less I'm a charity case for Xavier, so I can't buy you stuff to celebrate things like anniversaries or whatever. I can't even afford to buy popcorn let alone take you to see a movie. I'm sorry, Kitty. We should do stuff like go on dinner dates and all, but –"

"It's okay," she told him, tears glistening in her eyes. "I don't care about that. I don't care about that, at all." And it was true. All the things she thought she wanted had suddenly faded into insignificance.

"Hey! Why are you crying?" He brushed away her tears. "Was it really that bad?"

"No." She shook her head. "It was just perfect." She smiled happily. "You know what? I should thank you for this properly. I know! It's my turn to sing something."

"What? Oh, no! Don't! Don't sing! You don't have to!"

"Why not?" she wanted to know.

"Kitty, I've heard you sing. And you should never ever put yourself through that again," he teased.

"Oh! I'm singing anyway. And we're going to dance again. Now shut up and listen!"

"No! No!"

She started to sing. To shut her up, John kissed her.

She forgot all about singing.

The End

(John's song was 'Closer To You' by the Wallflowers.)


End file.
